Siam star Armstrong wins 2022 GP Sporting Achievement Award

With the trophy, now in its 20th year, recognising outstanding performance on a domestic front, the Guernsey Raiders rugby star helped his side to win the Siam Cup on successive Saturdays in a glorious week in May.

Armstrong was at his scintillating best as he scored a hat-trick at Stade Santander in Jersey as the green-and-whites memorably regained the second-oldest trophy in the sport with a 62-26 victory in what will go down as the delayed 2021 edition.

Seven days later back on home soil, he touched down twice more in the 52-0 win in front of a jubilant Footes Lane crowd to help ensure the silverware would remain in Guernsey’s hands for the year.

• Listen to a full interview with Anthony Armstrong in our special sport review of the year podcast

‘It’s right up there with some of the best experiences I’ve had here in Guernsey,’ said Armstrong of that memorable week.

‘Probably the only one that gets close is when we did the promotion and Siam back in 2018, but to win those back-to-back was really, really good.’

He added that in a season when three Siam Cup matches were played to catch up with those postponed due to the pandemic, the heartbreaking 15-14 defeat in the 2020 edition played in November at Footes Lane had a big part to play in what was to follow.

‘That November one is quite an important part of the Siam story,’ said Armstrong.

‘Losing that hit us hard as a squad and you could probably see that in our performances, they dropped off after, and we were desperate to put that right and we went out and put in two sensational performances really.

‘Some of the rugby we played was the best we played all year, the tries were fantastic, and just a good couple of games all round.’

Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds recalled that Armstrong was withdrawn before the end of the game at Footes Lane because his exertions during the two games had left him exhausted.

‘He went to a new level in the Siams,’ he said of his winger.

‘He was completely destructive with ball in hand and seeing him running down the sidelines when he is in that form has always been a pleasure.’

The coach also emphasised the part the November loss played in the turnaround.

‘Coming off the back of that loss in November, we were bitterly disappointed,’ Reynolds said.

‘We were spurred on by Jersey celebrating on our home pitch and their captain alluding to having more heart than us really struck a chord.

‘Our fitness really came to the fore and that is something we will remember.’

Armstrong flashes a smile when it is put to him that his destructive manner on a rugby field is at odds with his quiet nature off it, but he admits that he finds running over and through people with ball in hand is ‘quite nice’.

‘It feels quite good. It’s probably something I’ve developed over the last few years.

‘I think when I arrived I was a lot more slender, I was a guy trying to get on the outside.

‘Maybe because of a need when we lost Ned [Brown], I became a bit more of a ball carrier and that’s just developed naturally over the past couple of years.

‘I’m enjoying my role. It’s different from what it was in the past, but, yeah, loving it.’

As for the coming year, Armstrong is targeting progression in the league in the short term.

‘When you come down and watch us, we are probably one of the most frustrating teams you can watch – for half the game we can be absolutely fantastic, score some brilliant tries, look unbeatable, and then we’ll just do some stupid stuff and switch off. So to develop that consistency in the league and try to pick up more points is the aim going into 2023.

‘And obviously, we want to retain that Siam. Jersey Rugby Club have restructured slightly and they’re now getting exposure regularly in the league, so they will probably be a slightly different beast and a bit more progressed, so it will be a tasty one I think.’